This disclosure pertains to the production and application of porous nanocomposite polymers for the removal of chemical and biological contaminants from water.
Water is essential for life and is globally available in abundance, yet 1 out of every 6 people living today does not have adequate access to clean water. Even though there are several drinking water treatment technologies available today, they are not widely distributed and suitable for all types of water contamination because they have different treatment efficiencies and costs, and in some cases these technologies require trained personnel.
Water contamination is exacerbated by vital industries such as lead smelting, electroplating, petroleum and electronics, which discharge contaminants into the environment. To deal with this problem, various technologies have been developed to remove contaminants from waste streams, such as coagulation, ion-exchange, chemical precipitation, membrane processes, and adsorption. However, most of these methods suffer significant drawbacks, like high capital and operational costs, inappropriate efficiencies at usual discharge levels, and the production of residual toxic sludge and secondary wastes that are difficult and expensive to treat.
Set against the limitations above, adsorption has become a valuable alternative because of the low cost of adsorbent materials, low operating cost, high efficiency for dilute solutions, ease in handling, and minimal sludge production. More particularly, biosorption has been getting considerable attention because biological materials are naturally available, cheap and harmless. However, the biological materials utilized must be processed in unique ways in order to maintain or maximize adsorption capacity while also promoting strength and durability.